1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a probe system including an electromechanical digitizer, which can be traced over a surface for generating digital data representative of the configuration of such surface. A primary application of the digitizer is contemplated to be digitizing dental surfaces, either within the oral cavity, or outside the oral cavity, for example in a dental laboratory.
It is expected that the data generated by the digitizer will be used with suitable computer modeling (e.g., line modeling, surface-skin modeling, or solids modeling) and computer-aided design techniques in various dental applications, such as orthodontics, prosthodontics and other restorative dentistry, forensics, and teaching.
2. Background Art
The application of computer modeling and mechanical contact digitizing to dentistry is new and is yet unproven from a practical standpoint.